Breaking

McDonald’s to Post Calories Amid Healthier Food Test

McDonald's will begin posting calorie information on menu boards at its U.S. stores, and may add healthier items to its menu. Photographer: Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo

Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- McDonald’s Corp., the world’s
biggest restaurant chain, will begin posting calorie information
on menu boards at its U.S. stores next week as it works to stem
criticism that its food causes obesity.

The chain also will test healthier items, such as egg-white
breakfast sandwiches, 350-calorie sweet chili chicken wraps and
more produce side items, to add to its menu in 2013, Oak Brook,
Illinois-based McDonald’s said today in a statement. Calorie
counts will be listed on menus inside restaurants and at drive-through windows, the company said.

“We feel it’s important to do this for our customers,”
Jan Fields, president of McDonald’s USA, said at a press event
in Washington today. “Calories are just part of the story.”

The burger seller is making efforts to improve nutrition
and disclose more about its food after being criticized for
selling unhealthy items amid a national obesity epidemic. More
than one-third of adults and about 17 percent of children are
considered obese in the U.S., according to data from the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

A Big Mac sandwich at McDonald’s has 550 calories, while a
12-ounce vanilla milkshake has 530 calories.

Posting calorie counts will have a “significant public
health impact” because “nutrition information on websites is
pretty well hidden and people don’t notice it much,” said Margo
Wootan, nutrition policy director at the Center for Science in
the Public Interest, a Washington consumer advocacy group.

‘Follow Suit’

A U.S. health-law mandate requiring chain restaurants with
more than 20 locations to post calorie contents of fare may take
effect later this year. The proposed regulation, issued April
2011, is a part of President Barack Obama’s health-care reform
legislation.

“In 2008 New York City pioneered the requirement that
chain restaurants post calorie counts and one year after our law
went into effect, not only did customers say they used the
information to make decisions but those customers purchased
fewer calories than their counterparts,” New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg said in a statement today.

“I want to thank McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson for his
leadership on this important public health issue,” he said.

Favorites Menu

McDonald’s has recently touted a “Favorites Under 400
Calories” menu, which includes the Filet-O-Fish sandwich, Egg
McMuffin and medium fries, to attract U.S. consumers. The chain
has struggled to draw Americans as competitors step up
promotions and add menu items.

Sales at McDonald’s U.S. locations open at least 13 months
rose 3 percent last month, trailing analysts’ estimates as
growth slowed from a year earlier, the company said yesterday.
McDonald’s has more than 14,000 domestic restaurants.

Last year, the fast-food chain began putting apple slices
and smaller packets of fries in all of its Happy Meals in U.S.
stores. The change reduced calories in kids’ meals by 20
percent, the company said in a statement at the time.

The company also may add grilled Chicken McNuggets and low-fat dairy items to its menu, Greg Watson, senior vice president
of menu innovation, said in Washington today.

McDonald’s franchisees, who own about 90 percent of U.S.
stores, will be responsible for the cost of adding calorie
counts to menu boards, Fields said.

Darden Restaurant Inc., owner of the Olive Garden and Red
Lobster dining chains, also has made efforts to provide
healthier meals. The Orlando, Florida-based company is working
with first lady Michelle Obama’s Partnership for a Healthier
America to cut the calories and sodium in its food by 10 percent
during the next five years, it said in September 2011.

McDonald’s fell 0.4 percent to $90.82 at the close in New
York. The shares have slid 9.5 percent this year.

The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News
parent Bloomberg LP.